Nightly Hockey Hits: Wild to name captain Tuesday, Bruins are excited about the lotto, Why the Flames should honour Al MacInnis, Nagging injuries mount for Carolina, Isles or Leafs – who wins first?

Russo’s Rants: Captain to be named on Tuesday. Will it be Koivu or Bruno? Guess we will have to wait one more day to find out.

Black Dog Hates Skunks: Dustin Penner’s surprise play. A bit of a long story (albeit interesting) before you get to the meat and potatos of his article but it seems like for whatever reason, Penner’s bringing it this season.

Flames Insider: Why Flames should honour MacInnis. His slapshot alone is reason enough. No question the Flames are making a mistake not hanging his jersey from the rafters.

Mile High Hockey: A little rain on the parade. Interesting that they were at pretty much the same spot last season, and while I agree that they should not be buying playoff tickets just yet, the way Anderson is playing, who knows.

The Triple Deke: Looking at the Wings slow start. Team still has a lot of new faces to get used to, but the standings should look differently in a month’s time.

Working the Corners: News from a sitdown with NHL brass: DirecTV-Versus update, league revenues are up and more. Interesting insight and also interesting was leaving the door open for Balsillie.

Defending Big D: Goaltender controversy in Dallas? Not anytime soon. This is a problem most teams wished they had.

T.O. Sports: Maple Leafs could use help. I think most importantly is that Leafs nation reduce expectations of a Cup parade and buy into Burke’s system for the next few years.

The Hockey News: Towering Tyler Myers quickly catching on to NHL game. With the exception to the mistake he made against Maxim Afinogenov, he has looked very solid.

Hub Hockey: B’s/Mass State Lottery announce Bruins scratch ticket. While I will continue for the 200 million dollar powerball, winning Bruins tickets is kind of a cool lotto idea. Looks like the Bruins will have two successful lotto ventures this season.

PensBurgh: Max Talbot practices, world shakes in anticipation. What’s the hurry? He is only really needed for his playoff prowess.

Okposo Net: Focusing on the positives. All good points and since nobody expected the Islanders to be playoff bound this season, it is more important to focus on the smaller achievements.

Canes Country: Nagging injuries mount for Carolina. Looks like fans in Carolina want Staal to only play once he is 100% healthy to practice.

The Litter Box: Feaster’s Lightning “not interested” in Tomas Vokoun. He does have a tendancy to give up some weak goals.

NHL Fanhouse: Teams without a win. Adam Gretz and Bruce Ciskie talk about the two teams without a win (the New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs) and end up focusing on what’s wrong with the Leafs?

Puck Daddy: Puck Daddy in Vegas: 21 observations about hockey, gambling, new media journalism and Blogs With Balls 2.0. Very interesting stuff, but where was my invite. I am always happy to get to Vegas.